Review and Swatches: Too Faced À La Mode Eyes Palette

I bought this palette last month. I was supposed to give this out as a gift but I told myself this is a limited edition palette (who am I kidding? I loveeeee anything LE), hence, I decided to keep it for myself because I might not get the chance to own one. 

I was supposed to buy the UD Palette but I find the colors too bold. I can't use it on a day to day basis...plus I am not a makeup artist so it would be a waste to buy that. I bought this one instead. 

Packaging is gorgeous. I threw away the box but it was one of my basis for buying this one (HAHHAAHA...i know I'm not alone when it comes to packaging). 

Colors are to die for! Pigmentation is great. When I first used the eyeshadow, I didn't need any primer at all and I only used one swipe for each color and the payoff was gorgeous. 

I want to show you a picture of the eyeshadows up close: 

St. Tropez

Riviera

Cannes, Soleil, Jardin and Còte d' Azur

La Croisette

Monacco and De La Mer

The palette contains 9 eyeshadows and you can create 3 looks from the palette which are Day, Classic and Fashion. 

I want to show you the swatches for the 3 suggested looks:

Of the 3 looks, Day is my personal favorite as I always use the 3 eyeshadows. It is very wearable for office makeup since it looks natural. It also looks very dainty. 

Product Rundown:

Product: Too Faced À La Mode Eyes

Price: RM119 

Where to Buy: Sephora 

Pros:

- lovely pigmentation

- great color combination

- cute packaging

Cons:

- bulky packaging

- a little bit on the pearl/shimmer side but the shimmer is subtle. If you like matte eyeshadows then this might not be the palette for you 

Overall:

I'm very much satisfied with the palette. Definitely worth the price as the pigmentation of the eyeshadows are good.

First Look: Lorac Pro 2 Palette

Sorry for being MIA again :( Me and my husband were busy doing errands because we are having a mini vacation towards the end of this month! Yaaaay! We needed to buy stuff for our relatives and went here and there that's why I wasn't able to visit my blog...

So anyway, as promised, I will be doing my first impression on the Lorac 2 palette. 

My friend Kaoyee from the US agreed on our International Swap. She gave me a lot of products and this was one of the items that I received from her. Again, Kaoyee, girl...if you are reading this one, be ready for your package because I'm filling it up! 

The Lorac Pro Palette was a big hit to most beauty junkies all over the world. It was a neutral palette which consisted a lot of earthly colors. Pro Makeup Artists prefer carrying the Lorac Pro Palette than the Urban Decay Naked Palette because it was more versatile. 

Many makeup junkies (myself included) got the news that Lorac will be releasing a second Pro Palette. It came out in the States a few months back and I saw a lot of YouTube gurus making their first impression on the palette. I am a follower of @coffeebreakwithdani and most of the reviews that she made are quite accurate. She didn't like this palette at all. In fact, she returned it to Ulta after giving her first impression on it. 

When I saw the palette, it was really gorgeous. I mean, the shades were what I would normally use on a day to day basis. Having Dani's impression on the palette, I was priveledged enough to own one, thanks to my friend Kaoyee. 

The palette consists of 16 shades and here are the shades as seen on the picture:

 

Upper: Buff, Lt. Brown, Cool Gray

Bottom: Snow, Beige, Rosé

Upper: Nectar, Plum, Navy

Bottom: Mocha, Chrome, Silver

Upper: Charcoal, Black

Bottom: Jade, Cocoa

It also contains a small-size primer. I can say that the consistency is very similar to the Urban Decay primers. 

My First Impression:

I like the shades of the palette, as what I said earlier. The shades here are typical of what I would lean towards to when I wear my day-to-day makeup. 

Texture: The texture of the eyeshadows are quite powdery. I don't know...it feels very soft that you might feel you will have a lot of fall-outs when you use it. I played with the palette several times already but I didn't have any problem when it comes to fall-outs. 

Pigment: The eyeshadows are quite pigmented especially the ones with no shimmer on it. My favorite shadow in the palette is Rosé. My least favorite is Buff. 

Packaging: I love that the packaging is very slim. Unlike the Urban Decay Naked palettes, theirs is very bulky. I travel often and packing is an A+ for me. Very slim and very light. I also love that it is color grey. 

Those are my initial thoughts of the palette. Of course opinions change from person to person, so I want to hear from you! What is your first impression on the Lorac 2 Palette? Let me know on the comment section below :) 

Monthly Favorites: May Edition

Hello lovely ladies! Yeeeeeep! It's the first day of June...where did the time go? It went by so fast I hardly noticed it. Anyways, it is yet again time for my Monthly favorites (leaning more to beauty products) and I haven't used much cosmetic items that I really really loved except for the things that I will post here.

I only have five beauty products that I've been using mostly for this month. Other products are staples in my stash and I think I don't need to re-post the products that I've previously posted.

1. RCMA Foundation Palette from Digital Traincase - I've been on the search for a very very good foundation. I love my Sephora foundation but I'm running out of it already because I've been using it constantly. I came across Digital Traincase - one of the most trusted online shops in the Philippines; and I saw that they were carrying the RCMA Foundation Palette. I will do a separate review of this palette in the coming entries because it deserves a spot in my blog. These babies are highly pigmented and when you wear it, it feels like skin. So it's a thumbs up for me. I was supposed to use this on a make-up gig this May for a wedding and do the makeup of one of my friends but the ETA date didn't reach the target day. Anyways, I'm overly in-love with this palette. At first, i didn't know how to use it. I thought that the foundation was to creamy and I was using the wrong shade for my skin tone but I found the perfect shade for me and I've been using it ever since.It is a good palette for make-up artists because of the quality and the reasonable price. Get yours at Digital Traincase :)

2. Sephora Desert Sunset Palette - This palette was actually a gift from my sister last Christmas and it was only now that I played with the palette. It is not as pigmented as the Urban Decay eyeshadows and it often creases but it is workable with a primer. I actually used this on one of my FOTD which is still in the draft section of my blog.

3. Anastasia Beverlyhills Dipbrow Pomade in Chocolate - I have a separate entry which you can click here. I love this product. It replaced all the products that I use for my eyebrow. I heard that it is already sold-out in the US and that they are releasing new shades because some are complaining that the shade range is not as wide.

4. The Balm Time Balm Face Primer - This is a silicone based face primer and I like mixing it with my Sephora CC Cream. I've been using this for the whole month of May and surprisingly, it worked for me. Not much creasing but I needed to re-touch on my T-Zone area.

5. MAC Playland Collection lipstick in Happy-Go-Lucky - super love this lipstick. I don't know with you guys but I like using bright lipsticks specially this Summer. It is the epitome color (I don't know how to describe it well haha) for my Summer 2014. It is vibrant and it makes me happy. Love the color. It is limited edition and I am happy that I was able to purchase it.

What were your Favorites for the month of May? 

Mother's Day Haul from Luxola

Sorry for being hiatus for 5 days...I've been out of town and internet connection was out of reach :(

Anyway, I'm back! I'm so happy that I finally have my Mother's Day items from Luxola. They had 30% off on their items and I took the opportunity to buy. Luxola is one of my trusted online shops. They ship your orders immediately and all their items are top quality. I love the fact that their site base is in Singapore and they ship directly to the Philippines without going through customs. They also give free shipping when you reach a certain amount.

Anyway, I fell in love with the brush brand called Zoeva. It's a German brand and they carry high quality brushes at a much affordable price. It's not as expensive as MAC but the quality is superb. I bought 2 Zoeva brushes from Luxola. I'm planning to buy more in the future.

This one is the 142 concealer buffer. I actually don't have any brushes for concealers...I saw this on the site and I bought one.

This one is the 101 Face Definer. This one is like the Sigma tapered brush. I don't have any tapered brush in my collection so I also bought one. 

I've heard so much raves about the Sleek eye palettes. I actually don't like their blush. I bought a Sleek blush before and I only used it once. I gave another shot to this brand and bought this. 

I'm quite excited to play with this babies soon and share my thoughts with you guys. 

First Impression: The Balm Bahama Mama

Yesterday, my husband and I were strolling around Bukit Bintang and we found out that there's a Sasa Mall at Sungei Wang. My husband said I should look inside. The first thing I asked was of course if they had Bahama Mama...Luckily, they had one last stock.

Of course, I purchased it right away. It wasn't discounted. I bought it for RM 65. I think converted to Peso it is around PHP 850. So it's actually a little bit more expensive than the one in Beauty Bar because I know they sell it for PHP 750.

Anyway, I have been looking for this Bronzer for a long time. I heard a lot of good reviews and I bought the last piece yesterday. 

In the description it says : This matte Bronzer creates the look of beautifully tanned skin without any orange undertones for a fresh-out-the beach glow. Bahama mama also doubles as the perfect contour powder and matte brown eyeshadow.

I actually use bronzers as countour for my face. I like the fact that this Bronzer is matte. It's not shimmery as to other bronzers. It looks natural and it is perfect for my skin tone. 

I like the fact that it has .25 oz amount of product which I think is a lot. Good price for the quantity. Longevity wise I have to play with this first before I can thoroughly give a full blown review.

Urban Decay Naked Palette 2 versus BH Cosmetics 88 Shimmer Palette

I received my UD Naked Palette 2 last February and now is the only time that I wrote about it. I've always been a fan of Urban Decay. I love their products. I was ecstatic when I heard last December that they would be releasing a sequel to the Naked Palette. I tried ordering several times online last December but it was always out of stock. By the time January came, they've already released hundreds of stocks because of the overwhelming demand from all over the world. I got mine from Sephora.com.

Anyways, if you're a follower, I'm a makeup junkie. I love makeup. Any kind would do, drugstore or branded, name it. Last year, I hoarded a lot of stuff from BH Cosmetics. I love BH Cosmetics. Specially their eye shadow palettes. 

Going back, so, I ordered the UD Naked Palette 2, as expected, the product did not fail me. Here are some pictures of the Palette:

UD Naked Palette 2

UD Lip Junkie in Naked

What I love about the Naked 2 is that it comes with the travel size Urban Decay Lip Junkie in Naked. The gloss is flavored. It tastes mint-y. The eye shadows are highly pigmented. Believe me when I say it is pigmented. Even if you scratch yourself with tons of soap and water, it won't come off. I had a hard time rubbing off the blackout eye shadow when it smeared on my bed and my hands. 

The down side of having the palette is that I have the BH Cosmetics Shimmer Palette. The shadows that I oh so love from the Naked Palette are almost identical to the ones that are in BH. I said earlier, the eye shadows from BH Cosmetics are highly pigmented. It gives the same effect with or without the primer. 

BH Cosmetics Shimmer Palette

On the picture below is a comparison of swatches from both Urban Decay and BH Cosmetics. Pistol and Chopper are identical to the shimmer eye shadows from BH Cosmetics.

swatch comparison of Naked Palette 2 and BH Cosmetics 88 Shimmer Palette

UD Naked Palette 2 retails at $50 while the BH Cosmetics 88 Shimmer Palette is around $19.95. It all depends on the consumer but for me, I'd go for the Shimmer Palette if you're on a budget.